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Increase Your eBay Sales With Auction Pictures

We'll almost guarantee that you'll have more people bidding, and bidding higher on your auction, if you include a picture. Why Are Photos So Important?

* Some people just won't take a chance on buying something without seeing a picture of it first. In this day and time, would you? Since most auctions on eBay now have accompanying photos, many bidders will just skip over any auction without one.

* The picture shows the bidder the condition of the item even more than your description. If you describe a baseball card as having “a small 45 degree crease in the lower right corner”, the buyer might visualize a card with the corner nearly torn away from abuse and not bother to bid. Or worse is a situation where a bidder assumes the damage is minor, and when the item arrives finds out it is much more severe than they imagined. By posting an image you’ve encouraged them to bid and have also shown them exactly what they are bidding on. For most auctions, you should plan to include multiple pictures taken from various angles to make the condition of your auction item as clear as possible in the bidder’s mind.

* If you take your own unique photo of an item it helps show the bidders that you at least have that item. With simple software available now you can even put a visible watermark of your eBay ID on the image. This will further increase bidder confidence as well as help discourage another eBay seller from stealing your photo for their auction.


Do I Need a Digital Camera?

The short answer is “no” - there certainly are ways to avoid having to use a digital camera. But if you are serious about establishing an eBay business, sooner or later you’ll want to go digital. Besides, the camera would be useful for taking pictures of your kids and vacations, and that’s a good enough reason to get one right there. You can buy a suitable, inexpensive camera on eBay for less than $100. You’ll even find auctions as low as $25, and if you are planning on listing more than a few auctions the camera will pay for itself very quickly.

If you absolutely don’t want to invest in a digital camera, you can:

* Use a traditional film camera and take the pictures to a developer who can also put them in digital form. This is very common service that most photofinishers can do and you should not have any problem finding one.

* Ask a friend who owns a digital camera to take some pictures for you.

How Do I Take A Picture That Will Sell My Item?

Taking a good quality picture is an art unto itself, and a little bit of time spent reading about lighting techniques, backdrops, and staging will pay off in pictures that will help your item to sell. You don’t even need to spend any money as there are books you can get from your local public library that will teach you how. Six books in print right now are specifically written to help you take the best possible pictures for your eBay auctions and your local librarian will be glad to help you locate one.

Spend some time learning how to take quality photographs that show off your auction items, and you’ll be rewarded by more interest and more bids.